Practice Makes Perfect

Passage: Psalm 119:97-104

A few weeks ago, I played pickleball with a woman who shared that she tries to play at least 10 hours a week. Her goal is to have played 10,000 hours of pickleball by the time she’s 65. She was following a principle popularized by Malcom Gladwell that says it takes 10,000 hours of correctly practicing a skill to become an expert at it. While we can debate whether that “rule” is accurate, we all know that it takes practice to become good at something.

The writer of our passage today makes the same point, only the skill he’s developing is wisdom. He describes how he loves God’s law and meditates on it all day long. God’s commands are always with him and he is always practicing obedience to them. As a result, they have made him wiser than his enemies, more insightful than his human teachers and given him more understanding than those older than him. Constant study and practice have made him wise beyond his years.

The psalmist is describing the process of sanctification. The process where we become more and more like Jesus, who himself “grew in wisdom and stature” as he meditated on his Father’s words and lived in perfect obedience to Him. (Luke 2:52) Jesus promised that we didn’t have to go through this process alone. The Holy Spirit will “teach us all things” and remind us of what Jesus has said. (John 14:26). The Holy Spirit enables us to correctly study and practice God’s word, leading to wisdom.

Meditating on God’s word involves actively reading it or reciting it and then contemplating its truths. Thinking about them. Unlike the world’s definition of meditation, which involves emptying our minds, when we meditate on Scripture, we are filling our minds with both God’s words and his wonderful works.

But it’s not enough just to think about God’s words. We need to practice obeying them. When we put those words into practice, we make progress in the skill of living according to God’s expectations. We gain wisdom and understanding. We develop the mature ability to consistently make the right choices at the right time.

Psalm 119 challenges us to consider our own progress towards wisdom and understanding. What is filling your mind as you go about your day? How much of your time is spent contemplating the truths of Scripture? Are you practicing obedience to God and his word?

Consider practicing these words today:

Oh, how I love your law!

I meditate on it all day long.

98 Your commands are always with me

and make me wiser than my enemies.

99 I have more insight than all my teachers,

for I meditate on your statutes.

100 I have more understanding than the elders,

for I obey your precepts.

101 I have kept my feet from every evil path

so that I might obey your word.

102 I have not departed from your laws,

for you yourself have taught me.

103 How sweet are your words to my taste,

sweeter than honey to my mouth!

104 I gain understanding from your precepts;

therefore I hate every wrong path.

Psalm 120:97-104